I acquired this mineral specimen from a university. It was part of a collection donated by Sy Sussman in the late 1970's. The specimen locality was given as Mexico. Any suggestions as to where, or if it even is a Mexican specimen?

I acquired this mineral specimen from a university. It was part of a collection donated by Sy Sussman in the late 1970's. The specimen locality was given as Mexico. Any suggestions as to where, or if it even is a Mexican specimen?

To be honest, I've never seen something like that from Mexico. It rather looks like a typical specimen of arfvedsonite (which IS an amphibole group mineral) on orthoclase from Mount Malosa in Malawi ...

It looks a little like the orthoclase/tourmaline I used to collect in San Diego Co. CA, just a few miles from the Mexico border. However, from the photo I can't tell if that is tourmaline or not. In that locality, the tourmaline came in both the classic form and something that looked like that....just a possibility. Test a piece of the black for s.g. and hardness. The pegmatites continue far into Baja CA, Mexico from where I was collecting - and it could be from other pegmatites in Mexico, as well.

Where is Peter Megaw when you need him? If it is Mexican he will be familiar with it for sure. Peter is probably travelling or he would have posted a comment by now._________________John S. White
aka Rondinaire

I found a specimen in mindat from Durango with very similar appearance, labeled orthoclase with horneblende. Photo is by Rock Currier and specimen is from the collection of Miguel Romero.
mindat.org/photo-278555.html

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